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When defining a backup job to backup ReadyNAS contents to an external USB/eSATA drive connected to the ReadyNAS, there's an option to remove the content of the backup destination:
Here is what I did and what happened:
I defined backup job 1 to backup all ReadyNAS home directories to the external drive. For this job I did NOT check the "Remove the contents of the backup destination ..." option.
Backup job 1 run all the night but completed successfully.
I defined backup job 2 to backup all private time machine backups to the same external drive backup job 1 is using. For this backup job 2 I decided to always "Remove the contents of the backup destination", so I check this option for backup job 2. As the option is private for each backup job, I though it will delete only the data which was backed up by this job.
I started backup job 2 which has the "Remove the contents of the backup destination ..." option checked. I was very surprised to see that the backup job 2 deleted ALL contents of the external drive, including my backup job 1 home directory backups. Again, I thought the option is affecting the backup job 2 data only as it's the only backup job having the "Remove the contents of the backup destination ..." option checked.
I feel the implementation of the option "Remove the contents of the backup destination ..." is not good because it's not intuitive. Why is it possible to use different settings for different backup jobs when the option has a global effect on all backup jobs?
I know it's possible to specify different backup target devices for each backup job, but the description / warning for this option in the GUI should be more clear on what's happening when I check the option.
The warning should clearly state that removing ALL contents means EVERYTHING on the backup target device, and not only the backup target path on the target device.
It happens when you run a backup job and do not specify a destination path.
I defined a test backup job to back up source /data/backup (share:Backup) to destination USB back top. I did not specify a path for the destination, I selected to run a full backup and checked the option "Remove the contents ...".
When running the test backup job all data on the destination device was deleted, including the already backed up data for "BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus" and "BackupTimeMachineToTaurus".
Don't know if this makes a difference now?
Regards,
Holger
That means its working as designed - deleting all files in the specified destination folder before beginning the backup.
"Remove the contents of the backup destination before performing a full backup.
This option removes from the backup destination any files that were removed in the backup source.
Warning: This option deletes all files and folders in the backup destination."
Before I suggest another text, let me ask one more thing to ensure I get it right.
The text says that the contents of the backup destination are only removed when a full backup is run. Does it mean nothing is removed when an incremental backup is done?
Means, when I decide to schedule a full backup every week, than every week, before the full backup starts, everything is deleted? Nothing is deleted when running incremental backups between the full backups?
For me the message text should say something like this:
"Remove the contents of the backup destination before performing a full backup.
This option removes from the backup destination any files that were removed in the backup source.
Warning: This option deletes all files and folders in the backup destination. It is not limitted to the destination path used by this backup job but impacts the data of all backup jobs using the same backup destination device."
Maybe an English native speaker is able to do better.
What it does is delete ALL files and folders from the destination folder BEFORE the full backup is run. It doesn't check for files that were deleted on the source or anything else.
If you want to just delete files that are no longer on the source, there is a different option for that (but it is only available for some protocols - rsync in particular).
I think you are might be saying that the option deleted files on the drive that were not in the destination folder. If so, I think you've found a bug. Please confrim that I'm understanding you correctly. If you can post of screen shot of the backup settings, that would be helpful.
I then defined the second backup job called BackupTimeMachineToTaurus:
I used the same output device connected to USB back top connector, but different path:
Using the following options:
This time I checked the option "Remove the contents ..." because I decided for myself not to use incrementals for Time Machine backups. I read the warning for the "Remove the contents ..." option but I understood it is valid for this single backup job only. I thought that it will remove everything below the specified destination path and the destination path itself.
Because both backup jobs allow to set this option different, I did not think about this option to be a global option valid for all backup jobs using the same physical output / destination device.
What happened when running the this backup job "BackupTimeMachineToTaurus" was surprising to me. It first deleted ALL data on my destination device including backup data which was from backup job "BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus".
This is why I think that the warning needs to be more clear that not only the data of the backup job but ALL data on the complete destination device is deleted.
Much better would be that
the option "Remove the contents of ..." can be checked if this is the only backup job using the specified physical destinaton device
when I define a new backup job and I decide to check the option "Remove the contents of ..." a window should pop up warning me that checking this option impacts other backup jobs in case I already have other backup jobs defined using same physical destination device. Best would be to list all backup job which would be impacted by checking the option. In my example: I have BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus already defined and option "Remove the contents of ..." is NOT checked. I define the second backup job BackupTimeMachineToTaurus, using same destination device than BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus. When I check the option "Remove the contents of ..." for BackupTimeMachineToTaurus, a window should pop up saying "Warning: checking this option will result into all data on the destination device connected to USB Back Top for backup job BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus to become deleted, too".
Or other way around... I have already a backup job defined which has the option "Remove the contents of ... " checked. When I now define another backup job using the same destination device, a window should be pop up warning me that there is already a backup job defined using same destination device and having "Remove the contents of ..." checked. The options tab for the new defined backup job should have the option "Remove the contents of ..." already pre-checked and should not allow to change this.
Sure, there may be other ways to handle it. But as there is no updated user's manual available helping here, I feel the GUI can do better.
Thanks for your suggestion and for sharing this wonderful and informative thread in the community. NETGEAR will surely update or release a new user manual soon.
This time I checked the option "Remove the contents ..." because I decided for myself not to use incrementals for Time Machine backups. I read the warning for the "Remove the contents ..." option but I understood it is valid for this single backup job only. I thought that it will remove everything below the specified destination path and the destination path itself.
Because both backup jobs allow to set this option different, I did not think about this option to be a global option valid for all backup jobs using the same physical output / destination device.
What happened when running the this backup job "BackupTimeMachineToTaurus" was surprising to me. It first deleted ALL data on my destination device including backup data which was from backup job "BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus".
Thanks for sharing the details.
From my point of view, this is a bug and not a documentation issue. The scope of the deletions needs to be identical to the scope of the backup job.
Reporting bugs via support.netgear.com is possible (but rather tortured). Its worth doing though.
I went through step-by-step and created two identical backup jobs to yours. But when I ran the jobs sequentially, I did not see your issue. Any tips on how I can reproduce this?
I updated the settings of backup job "BackupTimeMachineToTaurus" to run a full backup every time and I checked the option "Remove contents ..." but it's working fine. It's just deleting previous time machine backups as it should be.
So I tried to remember what I changed. It's possible that I did not specify a destination path at the beginning when everything was deleted. I will run another recreate later and let you know.
It happens when you run a backup job and do not specify a destination path.
I defined a test backup job to back up source /data/backup (share:Backup) to destination USB back top. I did not specify a path for the destination, I selected to run a full backup and checked the option "Remove the contents ...".
When running the test backup job all data on the destination device was deleted, including the already backed up data for "BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus" and "BackupTimeMachineToTaurus".
It happens when you run a backup job and do not specify a destination path.
I defined a test backup job to back up source /data/backup (share:Backup) to destination USB back top. I did not specify a path for the destination, I selected to run a full backup and checked the option "Remove the contents ...".
When running the test backup job all data on the destination device was deleted, including the already backed up data for "BackupHomeFoldersToTaurus" and "BackupTimeMachineToTaurus".
Don't know if this makes a difference now?
Regards,
Holger
That means its working as designed - deleting all files in the specified destination folder before beginning the backup.
Good to know because this is not documented very well than.
I suggest to change the warning message to become more specific in what is the "backup destination".
I recommend to add "... backup destination which is the full qualified path of <Name:><Path:> specified in the destination tab." Something like this.
I thought about other options like only allow to check the "Remove the contents ..." option in case a path is specified. But this may be to restrictive.
Good to know because this is not documented very well than.
I suggest to change the warning message to become more specific in what is the "backup destination".
I recommend to add "... backup destination which is the full qualified path of <Name:><Path:> specified in the destination tab." Something like this.
I thought about other options like only allow to check the "Remove the contents ..." option in case a path is specified. But this may be to restrictive.
Thanks for clarifying things!
In my experience the more text you put into a warning, the more confusing it becomes.
You could perhaps say "Warning: The option deletes all files and folders in <path>", using whatever the correct pathname is.
